More victims have been found from the 9/11 attacks. According to a nationwide study, the post-9/11 era has led to a nation of worriers, who develop heart problems because of it.

“Chronic worriers — those who continued to fear terrorism for several years after the attacks — were the most at risk of heart problems. They were three to four times more likely to report a doctor-diagnosed heart problem two to three years after the attacks,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

In a study of 1,500 people, researchers found a 53-percent increase in heart problems in the three years after September 11, 2001. Worry: it’s practically the very definition of terrorism. Does this mean the terrorists won?

Coincidentally, this was the second study of the day that linked worry with heart disease.

A study from the University of South California finds older men with “sustained and pervasive anxiety” appear to be at increased risk for a heart attack.

“What we’re seeing is over and beyond what can be explained by blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, blood sugar levels and other cardiovascular risk factors,” said Biing-Jiun Shen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Although most people think of anxiety as intense worry, Dr. Shen and his colleagues looked much deeper, examining four different measures of anxiety. The first anxiety scale measured psychasthenia, or excessive doubts, obsessive thoughts and irrational compulsions. The second anxiety scale measured social introversion, or anxiety, insecurity, and discomfort in interpersonal and social situations. The third anxiety scale measured phobias, or excessive anxieties or fears about animals, situations or objects. The fourth anxiety scale, manifest anxiety, measured the tendency to experience tension and physical arousal in stressful situations.

Quoted in the U.K.’s Telegraph, Dr. Biing-Jiun Shen, went a little further.

Scientists found that men who displayed high levels of shyness, excessive tension under stress, fear of animals, objects or situations, or had irrational compulsions were 30 to 40 per cent more likely to have heart disease leading to an attack.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts where he was VP of programming for Berkshire Broadcasting Co. He was an editor at the RKO Radio Network in New York, and WHDH Radio in Boston. He is the founder of the MPR News’ website. He is a private pilot and flies an airplane he built.